Just the Tip! Just the Tip!

Introduction

Episodes: 12

Genre: Comedy, School, Slice of Life

Airing Date: July 2018 - September 2018

Studio: Lerche

Asobi Asobase (Asobi Asobase: Workshop of Fun) Preview (No Spoilers)

Hanako, Olivia, and Kasumi are three girls in the same class who first formed a club together due to Olivia losing a bet and Kasumi wanted her to teach her English. What ends up happening is they form a club called the past timers club where they waste their afternoons after school in a classroom rather than go join a club. The thing is, everything they do almost always leads to side-splittingly hilarious consequences. Olivia reveals her secret that she cannot speak English and is culturally Japanese. Kasumi reveals that she is very shy and she is also a BL author. Hanako is kinda… just there but in a funny way. Here are five highlights of our blonde, non-English speaking, adorable Olivia.

Hanako Honda Highlights (Spoilers Beyond This Point)

1. Makeup Game Not on Point. Hair Though...

Olivia kinda looks like a gyaru sometimes, but that could just be the way that she is drawn. What ends up happening one time is that she TRIES to do makeup for one of the girls and let’s just say that she painted poor Hanako like she was a clown. Then in another segment, Olivia tries to cut her bangs. It’s not that difficult to understand–primarily that you should leave that bit to a professional–but for some reason she charges on. Olivia ends up looking worse than Cynthia from the Rugrats.

2. Oddball of Adorable

For all of the odd things that she does, Olivia is actually a very sweet girl. She may not study, but the moment where Maeda brings in a fake Olivia to help her get out of the English speech contest is priceless when the fake AI Olivia revolts. She has her tender moments too where she is actually quite shy and ignorant of the world leaning on Kasumi and even sometimes Hanako–yes, sometimes–to help her understand better. Her smiles are pure gold as well. Even if they are fake sometimes.

3. Some Tact, But no Intelligence

Olivia is a VERY good friend to Hanako. She tries her best to encourage Kasumi, but she spares Hanako from the rod often only to let Hanako herself walk right into traps. She doesn’t intend to, but she just doesn’t realize that Hanako is so stupid, she is about to set herself up. Still though, while she may be good socially, she is terrible with her studies. Hanako may be as socially developed as a banana, but at least she has her smarts going for her. Olivia doesn’t study at all and always is pulling all-nighters to barely scrape by or bomb a test. If only she could get it together!

4. Binding Glue

A role that Olivia fills well is that she is the binding glue for the friendship of Kasumi, Hanako, and herself. In fact, she was “friends” with Hanako when they met Kasumi, and while both sides had ulterior motives, they win over each other. Olivia is also frequently the mediator for their group. She helps assure Kasumi while trying to talk down Hanako from whatever cliff she has climbed up.

5. Game Lover

Olivia wins a spot in our hearts for her love of games. At first, the bacteria version of Pokemon GO was hilarious. Especially when it backfired on her and the app found deadly bacteria in her armpit. She then brought us that adorable FPS game that she ends up playing against the Shogi club unknowingly. Needless to say, it does not go well for Hanako and Kasumi who, while still cute characters, are killed rapidly and mercilessly by the other team. Meanwhile she gets upset when the two girls don’t want to keep playing with Olivia.

Final Thoughts

From her smiles, to her panicked reassuring of others, to her obliviousness, Olivia truly is a great character in Asobi Asobase. While she isn’t a genius by any means, she certainly doesn’t have issues like Kasumi and Hanako do with social interaction for better or worse and we certainly hope that she stays this way. What are your favorite moments from our non-English-speaking Japanese-yet-not-Japanese-appearing blonde angel Olivia? Be sure to let us know down below. Till next time!

Editor/Translator

Author: Nagareboshi

American by birth; international by choice. I am trying to bring attention to one of my favorite causes; me. I translate by day and write by night. Aspiring polyglot. My dream would be to be the personal translator for Amuro Namie. Other than that, my hobbies include languages, weightlifting, sleeping, karaoke, GOOD coffee and music. When I’m not doing any of the above, I am most likely laughing hysterically at Willam Belli videos or EV farming. I ain’t gunna Rupologize for it neither. Waifu are Shirai Kuroko & Euaerin.